The mayor says the city-owned center is taking up too much of his time.

The mayor says the city-owned center is taking up too much of his time.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Even though he's served as the city's mayor for just 10 weeks, Jay Williams realizes a lot of people are counting on him to turn around Youngstown.
As Youngstown's first black mayor, the first independent to win the post in about 80 years, and at the age of 34, one of the youngest to hold the position, Williams says the expectation level for him to succeed is high.
During a meeting with The Vindicator that lasted more than 75 minutes, Williams answered questions on a variety of topics.
Top issue: Crime
The mayor said crime is the most pressing issue facing his administration. Although the police department obviously plays a big role in reducing the city's crime statistics, Williams said changing the attitude of residents about enforcement and taking pride in their community are also important.
"If I hired 200 officers tomorrow, it wouldn't change the culture," he said. "We have citizens who see something [criminal] and don't call because nothing happened when they called before. Police need to respond in a timely manner in order to gain back the trust some people" lost with local law enforcement.
In the past, there were times when someone would call the police and it would take three hours or so for an officer to arrive, something that isn't acceptable, Williams said.
"We, as a city, will be proactive and timely," he said.
That means community policing and a more visible police presence, Williams said.
One concern expressed by Williams is there doesn't seem to be a "sense of urgency" regarding the reduction of juvenile crime in the city.
Diversion and intervention programs for young people are important to help turn them away from a life of crime, he said.
But juvenile criminals also need to be incarcerated when the crime committed by them calls for prison time, Williams said.
"There is a focus on rehabilitation, but the city is largely being held hostage by those between the ages of 14 and 22," he said. "It's a concern of mine, and I need to sit down and talk further with juvenile officials. We need to offer more programs and alternatives to kids so when they turn 14 or so, they're not ready to commit crimes."
Racial divide evident
In last year's general election, Williams' victory broke down a long-standing racial barrier in the city that had predominantly black wards largely voting for black candidates and wards with a large number of white residents largely voting for white candidates.
Even with the election win, Williams says he still faces people who judge him by his color.
Williams said there are white people who don't like him because he's black, and there are some blacks who don't like him because he became successful and they think he's forgotten what it's like to live in the inner city. Williams said other blacks expect him to favor black neighborhoods because of his color.
"Is it unfair to believe I have a better understanding of the black inner city? No, that's not unfair," he said. But he said it is unfair to think that just because he's black, he can solve the problems better than anybody else.
Problems with Chevrolet Centre
Although Williams wants to focus much of his attention on reducing crimes as well as promoting economic growth and improving neighborhoods, he acknowledges he is spending more time than he wants to with the city-owned Chevrolet Centre.
The center, opened in late October, is not meeting its financial projections, and quite possibly it will not reach its reduced profit projection of $634,221. Center officials had pegged the profit at about twice that amount months ago. The city borrowed $12 million to help fund the center, estimated to cost $45 million.
"I'm investing a lot of time in the center, something I didn't want to invest this much time and energy in," he said. "I had hoped it would be self-sustaining."
The city could fire Global Entertainment Corp., the center's management firm, but there aren't a lot of other companies that could or would run the facility, he said.
Also, the mayor finds himself working to settle an ongoing disagreement between Herb Washington, owner of the Youngstown SteelHounds minor league hockey team that plays its home games at the center, and Bruce Zoldan, owner of the Mahoning Valley Phantoms, another hockey team that wanted to hold its league championship series at the facility.
Relationship with other officials
As the city's former Community Development Agency director for about five years, Williams already had a professional relationship with many city officials. But Williams said there was a disconnect between the mayor's office during Mayor George M. McKelvey's administration and others in city hall that he is addressing.
One move is to hold formal Cabinet meetings. The Cabinet meeting held earlier this month was the first such meeting in years, Williams said.
Although some city officials and employees aren't interested in taking a new approach to tackling important issues, Williams said most are eager to work with him.
"I have high expectations, but they are realistic and will be implemented on an incremental basis," he said.
Housing demolition
Williams said his relationship with council members is strong, and members are willing to take different approaches to issues. An example is the demolition of dilapidated structures, one of Williams' top priorities.
The proposed 2006 budget includes $1.27 million for housing demolition, a move supported by council. That figure is $950,000 more than what was spent last year on demolition.
In the past, each council member received an equal amount of money to demolish structures in their wards even though some sections of the city needed more attention than others.
That scattered demolition method didn't help with the overall improvement of neighborhoods because some houses that needed to be taken down remained and continued to deteriorate, Williams said. The city will now demolish all the dilapidated homes on a street instead of just a few, he said.
As for tax-credit housing developments for low-income people, Williams is adamant there won't be any more in the city under his administration unless they make sense to the neighborhood. The program hasn't been a success for the city and needs to be re-evaluated, he said.
"We put low-income people in new houses in troubled neighborhoods with no sustainability," he said. "That isn't well thought-out or well-conceived."
School district challenges
Improving the Youngstown school system is also a priority for Williams, but the mayor says it is up to school officials to make the needed changes.
The mayor said he's getting to know Dr. Wendy Webb, the city's superintendent of schools, and the two have talked about academics and the district's finances. Williams said he has no interest in seeking mayoral control over the city school district.
"I think she has a tougher job than I do," he said.
If the district wants Williams' support for tax levies in the future, he said, its officials must show him that the system's finances are in order.
The mayor said most of his knowledge of the Youngstown school system comes from his wife, Sonja, who works as a counselor for Youngstown State University's Upward Bound program. The program gets kids ready for college.
It's important to create an environment for kids to learn, and for some, it's a huge challenge because their parents aren't interested in education or don't have the knowledge or time to help their kids with homework, Williams said.
Williams enjoyed strong support from religious leaders during his mayoral race and urged them to get involved in providing more after-school programs for kids to steer them in the right direction.
"It's time for us to revisit anything and everything that we do in the city," he said.
skolnick@vindy.com